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It's a 1996 Galant ES that he bought used in 2000. He's still a college student, so he didn't have much cash to buy a car and got a good deal with the Galant. His experience with the Galant has been excellent. Except for replacement of the Gilmer timing belt and a crank pulley that came loose, the only other replacements have been the tires, and normal oil/filter changes. I've been amazed how well the car runs, and it has over 120K on it now.
I bought a used '03 Mitsu Outlander a couple of years ago (had 10K miles on it) because I needed an inexpensive, AWD vehicle, and have read a lot of good things about the 2.4L (and was able to look past the styling). So far, things have gone pretty well, and the dealer service has been awesome for the few warranty adjustments it has required (currently at 35K).
Regarding Elantra tire pressure - I too prefer longer tire life over handling (provided there isn't a major difference in the handling). Like I said earlier, in my particular case, I can feel no difference in the handing with 35psi vs 30psi.
Where some people think that the wheel balance problem comes from 30 psi pressure, I think it is the opposite, personally. I test drove an Elantra that was not properly prepped and had *60* psi in the tires! (The salesman didn't come on the test drive and I had a tire gage with me.) That particular car had a very pronounced shimmy at 70 mph, but rode smoothly after I lowered the pressure to 30.
I think Hyundai, in an effort to prevent flat spots on their tires during shipping, overinflate them. My theory is that they inflate them to the point that the bead seal is moved on the rim which throws the whole balance off, in some cases even when the pressure is lowered. It would almost be worth it to Hyundai to ship the cars without wheels and have the wheels put on by the dealer.
I would love to see them try to drive the cars on and off those transport trucks without wheels on them. :P
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
My major implication regarding this topic is that although 30PSI is the recommended inflation pressure from Hyundai, it may not be the optimum or best pressure for the tire in this application. Automobile manufacturers are notorious for recommending lower inflation pressures to enhance ride comfort. Perhaps - and, only perhaps - if the pressure is in reality a bit too low, thereby causing a slight belt separation over time due to the increase heat in the tire, shimmy/imbalance would be present, and no amount of sophisticated balancing would eliminate the problem.
Anyway, since it appears everyone is "reaching for straws" in an effort to find a solution to the Elantra front end shimmy problem, this theory is certainly plausible as any other.
I started researching tires from TireRack even before I bought my own 05 Elantra GLS 5-door. I immediately found that the OEM Michelins were junk (typical of most OEM tires from any car maker) and planned on replacing them immediately after the purchase. I wound up with a set of BF Goodrich Traction TA/H tires from TireRack, which have a good, aggressive tread pattern. A tad noisy, but since we drive on some dirt roads up here in rural Michigan, they're great tires. Pretty good in light snow, but I went ahead and bought four Firestone Winterforce tires for the winter and I'm extremely glad I did due to all the early snow we've had. Oh by the way, I took off the Michelins at a little over 400 miles on the car last March. The same day I swapped to the BF Goodriches, we had a "warm" snow storm that dumped about an inch of wet, slippery slush on the roads and we didn't have a single slip with our replacement tires. I know that I would have had some real "white knuckle driving" with the Michelins.
I feel that when you buy a car, you need to do whatever you need to protect your investment. Finding the best tires for it and spending a few hundred extra dollars up front is money well worth spending, especially when personal safety is involved! I know that car manufacturers are supposed to match a suitable tire to their vehicles, but I know from a lot of research and personal experience they they're just finding the best deals. I only wish Michelin wouldn't keep offering such good deals since it forces us to hunt for better tires.
Regarding the Elantra shimmy - I still say that in the case of my wife's Elantra, the shimmy could 100% be attributed to the front rotors.
Ever see fully rigged boat shipped without trailers? We used a fixed crane with a couple of very strong slings to lift them off the truck and place them on the trailers.
That'll make your palms sweat.
I don't see it happening.
That is about all the good I can say about those tires, though. Lousy traction, wear like a pencil eraser, and have a lot of sidewall flex. They are very quiet for the first 20K or so, but then steadily get noisier. At least that is the experience I have had with them.
It would be great to have this type of information to give you an advance idea of what a particular repair job is going to cost in labor.
What I have done, is that I have asked the service managers at both of the dealerships that I deal with (1 Mitsubishi, and 1 Hyundai) what their standard labor rate per hour is. I have a pretty good relationship with both, so when I need something done to one of our cars, I call them for a quote before hand - at least knowing ahead of time what the labor rate is. I have dealt with both dealerships for so long now (and have been loyal), to where 75% of the time when I call for a quote, they voluntarily reduce their labor rate.
#1 I want to add a remote starter, but if Best Buy installs it, will it void the Hyundai warranty?
#2 How long should I go before my first oil change and when would be a good time to switch to synthic oil?
#3 Anyone know of an aftermarket oil filter that would be larger than the stock Hyundai oil filter? :confuse:
By using Castrol GTX 10W30 and the OEM filter both of my Elantras ('02 and '05) have performed excellently.
Congratulations on your purchase. These have proven to be fine autos and a great bang for the buck dollar wise.
I'll plan on also doing the 1st oil change at 1500 miles. I don't have the owners manual in front of me now but it says Hyundai recommends Quaker State brand oil in a 5W20 weight? I guess I will do what they reccomend and then switch to synthetic oil at around 3500.
Anyone else running synthetic oil? If so what weight?
Also anyone know about the remote start - if it voids the warranty?
In my new Elantra, I plan to use Mobil 1 synthetic, since I've used this oil for many years and never suffered an engine mechanical failure. But, I also still maintain the oil change interval at 3 months/3,000 miles. As far as weight goes, I'm thinking about running 5W-30, but I will have to do some more thinking on this. 10W-30 Mobil 1 is also an option.
I don't know on the remote start in terms of voiding the warranty; check with your dealer's Service Manager. Personally, I wouldn't install one.
Good luck with your new car!
Don
I do remember trying to crank an Iron Duke 4 with 20W50 in it when a surprise ice storm took the temps down into the single digits. Think along the lines of stirring frozen molasses and you get the picture.
5W20 will not work here in the summer. Not unusual to see freeway temps in the 110-120 range. Tough to maintain oil pressure at idle in rush hour on that light viscosity. I suppose a synthetic might manage, but dino breaks down quickly in those conditions.
This past summer we had several weeks where you had to be very careful in the car when first opened as anything metallic would burn you. Especially the seatbelt tabs.
5W-20 synthetic would be fine in Texas during the hot Summer months, as it doesn't break down like dino, but 10W-30 would also be fine. You will see a decrease in fuel economy with 10W-30 however. Personally, I think everyone should be using synthetic motor oil from my personal experience over the last 25 years. I've torn down SAAB engines after over 200K, and there is no perceptible ring or main bearing wear when using synthetic oil with regular 3 month/3K drain intervals. And, I've never seen an engine with sludge build up when using synthetic. It's well worth the extra money.
Although we don't have the super hot days you have in Summer, I know what you mean about touching anything in the car. Even here in Illinois, you can't touch the steering wheel or metal seat belt tabs without some pain. We very seldom see ambient temps of over 100 degress, but it can get might close sometimes, and 90+ degrees in the Summer is the norm.
We have used conventional oil up until now, and have never gone more than 3500 miles between changes. The only "problem" I have ever noticed with the engine was that one occasion where the car sat for 3 days, and then had a noisy lifter upon the initial start up.
Where in Illinois are you? I am in northern Illinois and I can tell you that temperatures that low are very, very rare.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Since I've lived in this area, there have been at least 10 times in the past 10 to 15 years that it's been at least -15 degrees recorded here. And, -5 to -10 is very typical for late January and early February. Actually, we had a few days in late November and early December this year that hit -7. The coldest I've recorded is -22 degress ambient and that's happened twice since 1980. So, to summarize, -18 to -20 degrees is not unusual, not typical and not the norm mind you, but certainly not rare or unusual.
I'm curious if you can point us to any website that would show those temperatures. Or is it your own thermometer on your patio?
According to the weather history tables at the site cited above, the Champaign-Urbana lowest recorded temperature for November and December 2005, and January 2006 was 0 degrees F which is -18 degrees C. It was 0 F only once, on 12/7/04.
For the entire year 2005, the lowest was 0 F.
For the entire year 2004, the lowest was -12 F.
Chicago temperatures are affected by the lake effect from Lake Michigan. Cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wcstates.htm
Actually it is more like cooler in the day warmer at night. Also the lake only affects to a certain extent inland, once you get 5-10 miles away the effect of the lake is at best minimal (but that also depends on stuff like wind). Depending on the weather conditions sometimes the temperature difference between the lake front and 15 miles inland can be as much as 15 degrees. Also I think the official temperature for Chicago is at the airport which is mostly unaffected by the lake.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
If I were going to drive to Chicago to find a meteorologist to actually give us all a difinitive answer on all of this Illinois weather history, would it do any harm for me to swap an '02 Elantra with 70K miles over to synthetic oil before I left? The car has had 3000-3500 oil change intervals with conventional oil since new, so I wasn't sure if I would be better to leave well enough alone, or to switch to synthetic. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I will be happy to address your query on synthetic oil switchover. On one of my vehicles (actually my son's), we switched over to synthetic at 65K. This car supposedly had its oil changed at every 3K to 4K miles. The switchover to Mobil 1 10W-30 went seamlessly. However, I did notice when we drained the oil on the first two changes at 3K intervals after the switchover, the oil was extremely black or dirty looking - more so than typical. Perhaps better detergent properties with the Mobil 1?? But, no problems whatsoever in operation or seals. This was on his Mitsubishi Galant ES with the 2.4L balance-shaft Inline-4.
P.S. - not good to put your email address in the body of a post. You will probably find yourself with a healthy supply of SPAM in your in-box.
That's OK, it's not my primary e-mail address, and Yahoo! has an excellent spam filter, plus I have an additional proxy server spam filter installed here on my PC. Between them both, I catch around 98% of all spam, and it goes directly into the kill file.
Good luck on the changeover. After the experience I've had with synthetic, I will never go back to dino oil.
Anyone know of a larger capacity oil filter that will fit the Elantra.
Also I have a set of new 6x9" speakers and need to know hot to remove the rear speakers. There didn't seem like an easy way to get to the screws that hold the rear speakers in.
REAR SPEAKER
Remove the rear seats (see BD group - rear seats).
Remove the partition trim after removing plugs.
Remove the bolts(A) and plugs(B) from the rear package tray trim.
Remove the rear seat belt lower mounting bolt(A).
Remove the rear package tray trim.
Remove the rear speaker after removing 4 screws.
Installation is the reverse of removal.
---------------------------------------------------------
I would be careful what oil filter you use. Having the largest filter is not as important as Anti drainback valve, etc. Hyundai has a TSB out about certain filters not working well in the Elantra ( some filters causing valve train noise).
As far as the speakers go, if you need further information on the install, let me know via email. I may be able to send you some pics of the install.
When I brought the car in this morning, the man at the service desk said that they only needed to perform the 7,500 mile service because the mileage of the car was so low and the other things in the 15,000 mile service weren't time dependant (just mileage dependant). I told him I wanted to be sure to do all the maintenance required to keep my warranty in effect, and he said it would be fine. I'm still a little nervous, so I wrote up a two sentence statement that I want him to sign when I pick up the car stating that he recommended getting the 7,500 mile service instead of the 15,000 mile service and that the warranty would remain in effect.
Any thoughts?
I have some questions about something that the dealer is asking for me to do, and I was hoping that I could get some advice on this. The dealer told me on Monday that the car, which was supposed to have shipped a couple of weeks ago and was to arrive by 2/28, didn't ship until yesterday. The dealer doesn't know where it's at, and he can't give me an estimated date/time of delivery for this car.
So he's asked for me to sign the papers for the car before I actually take the car. I understand that this is because he needs to get this sale in before the end of the month to earn money on it. But I feel really uneasy about signing for a car when I haven't had a check to see, inspect, and test-drive the car before I take it home. I also don't want to lose 1-2 weeks of my loan's grace period when I don't have the car. So here are my questions:
1) Are my feelings are understandable or unreasonable?
2) Is what is being requested of me is taking it a bit too far, or is a normal way of doing business?
3) Is there a way for me to sign something that gives the dealer credit for selling me the car before 2/28 without me signing paperwork concerning payment of the car?
4) If there's not a way to do #3, then what about me borrowing a comparible 2006 Elantra with a dealer tag until the car arrives. Would that be an unreasonable request?
Ok, that's it. Again, I'd really appreciate some good advice on this issue. Thanks. :confuse:
If you decide to go through with this, then for sure I would demand the free loaner if I were you, since you are in fact buying the car and starting to pay for it as of 2/28.
FWIW, I've never had a dealer even suggest that I sign papers for a car 1-2 weeks before it arrives. A deposit is pretty common in my experience, though.
Thanks for your input. That really helps me to get my mind straight for the big financing talk tomorrow. I'm already pre-approved through a local credit union at 6%, but I thought I'd see if they can get me a lower rate.
I would hope that a deposit would be a way for the specific dealer to get credit for selling the car in February. I'll give him the option of taking a fully-refundable deposit until the car arrives, or lending me out a comparible car until mine arrives.
I got some great news this evening. Two dealerships offered me $2000 for my car, and they offered to buy it directly from the Hyundai dealer so that I get the tax benefits of a trade-in. What a great night!
Thanks again for your advice...I really appreciate it!
Tell the dealer thanks, but no. As another poster indicated, Hyundai isn't going to credit a sale on a vehicle that hasn't been delivered.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Another question: are Hyundai warranties transferable? In my opinion the Hyundai 10/100K warranty is one of the best features, so it would be dumb to buy used instead of new if the warranty is void.
Could be former rental or fleet vehicles that Carmax has purchased. You would have to check the Carfax report for that info. My personal opinion on the Elantra is that it's price is good enough when new, that it is better to just buy new and get the 60K bumper to bumper as well as the 100K powertrain (100K powertrain doesn't transfer).
In terms of the other vehicles you are looking at, I like the Mazda 3 - Sharp looking car, and I know people that have them that love them. The Scion XA just looks a little too weird for me - doesn't look very proportionate in my opinion - and lacks in the horsepower field as well).